Page 25 of Reckoning with the Cowboy
Josie saw the answer in the woman’s eyes. “Are you telling me he’s not behind bars?” If Esther had told Roger Grimes all about them, then he also must have told her things about himself. “Esther, if you know something—”
“I’m not telling you anything,” she snapped. “Judgment is coming to those boys. After what they did to that poor man, they are going to pay dearly. Told everyone those boys were no good, but no one would listen. All thought they knew better. Ha!”
“Esther, you have no idea what you’ve done.” Josie started for the door.
“He’s really looking forward to meeting you.” There was a snideness to her tone that made Josie stop at the door and slowly turn to look at Esther.
“You told him all about me…me and Cordell.” The woman smiled. “Why would you do that, Esther?”
“He wanted to know about his stepsons and the women they were involved with.”
Max and Goldie. Josie clenched her hands into fists. Of course he did. “And you were more than happy to tell him. What is wrong with you, Esther? The man is a dangerous criminal.” Iris had always been so kind and gracious, so caring. How could two sisters be so different? “You want to get us all killed?”
Looking defensive, Esther said, “Roger isn’t like that.”
“You have no idea what he’s like and now you’ve given him a loaded gun to come after not just Max and Cordell but Goldie and me.”
The woman clamped her lips shut in a thin line before she said, “You are the one who fell in with Cordell Lander, not me. You’re the one who knew nothing about him. You know what they say about sleeping with dogs.”
Josie turned and rushed out the door, unable to stay in Esther’s presence a moment longer for fear of what she might do to the miserable woman.
She had to contact Cordell and Max before it was too late. Something was wrong. It hadn’t sounded as if Grimes was calling from jail.
But first she had to make sure that Goldie was all right. The moment she was out of the apartment complex, she called Goldie’s cell. It rang five times before it was picked up by voicemail.
Telling herself Josie must be too busy to answer, she quickly tried the café’s landline. It began to ring and ring. Even as she tried not to panic, she was.
Disconnecting, she called the sheriff’s office only to find out from the dispatcher that Deputy Rance Fletcher had been called down to the café for some kind of emergency and she hadn’t been able to reach him.
Goldie! She drove even faster, afraid that she would reach Dry Gulch too late to save her friend.
* * *
Goldie woke, head aching. She sat against a metal wall, her wrists zip-tied together and attached to a metal bar along the inside of what she realized was the back of a van. Rock music blared from the car’s speakers, but the van wasn’t moving. The engine, though, was running.
As she tried to sit up, she saw through the driver’s side window the man she now knew was Roger Grimes. Her capture came back to her along with a growing sense of panic. The man had lured her into the back of the café, where she’d found Ronnie injured and bleeding. Grimes had grabbed her and covered her mouth with a rag wet with a substance that knocked her out as he dragged her to the alley behind the café. Max and Cordell’s stepfather, the man she’d been warned to watch out for, had taken her captive.
Now he stood outside the van talking on a cell phone. She couldn’t hear what he was saying over the music vibrating the windows in the car. She tried to free herself from where her wrists were bound to the van wall, but quickly had to give up. She still felt woozy from whatever he’d knocked her out with.
Just the sight of the man from the café had her pulse in overdrive. Josie had shown her his mug shot and warned her that he might be coming to Dry Gulch, that he was somehow connected to Max and Cordell. Where was he taking her? What was he going to do with her?
As he finished his call, he opened the driver’s side door and peered in at her. “Finally awake, huh?” he said with a deep chuckle as he slid behind the wheel.
“Where are you taking me?” she managed to ask, her throat dry, her tongue feeling too large in her mouth. How long had she been out?
“I thought you’d like to see where Max and Cordell grew up,” he said. “But first we need to pick up your friend Josie and then we’re on our way.”
She felt her pulse jump in alarm. “Josie?”
“Don’t worry. Max and Cordell will also be joining us.”
She was determined not to let him see how terrified she was. She could tell he liked her being frightening. He enjoyed seeing people suffer, that much she’d figured out for herself. Still, when she spoke, her voice was too high. “Why are you doing this?”
He looked surprised by her question. “I thought you knew. I want to see my stepsons. Having their women there will only make it a more special reunion.” His laugh held no humor as he turned up the volume on the radio and began to sing along, horribly off-key.
Goldie closed her eyes, wishing she could send a message to Josie. Her worst nightmare was coming for her. Not far up the highway, he turned off the road, cut the engine and got out without a word.
* * *
